Whispers on the Wizardnet
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: What if the Wizardnet had already been developed on that fateful Halloween night? Completely AU, partly OOC, probably eventually magically handicapped or sick Harry.
1. Chapter 1

**Whispers on the Wizardnet****  
by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

**

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Chapter 1**

Professor McGonagall sighed in exasperation as she sat at her desk, turning on the screen in the charmed wall opposite of her desk with a flick of her wand.

'Welcome to the Wizardnet' appeared on the screen.  
'User name: '

'Password: '

"Darth Vader," Minerva uttered, adding, "tabby".

'Darth Vader, welcome to the wizardnet.'

Seeing that the login process was completed, McGonagall began to talk to the Headmaster, pointing her wand at the screen as she spoke.

Darth Vader: 'Albus, are the rumours true?'

The reply came immediately.

Chewbacca: 'I'm afraid so, Darth Vader.'

R2D2: 'The Dark Mark has faded but is still visible.'

Chewbacca: 'That's what I feared. He is not really gone.'

Darth Vader: 'What about the boy?'

Chewbacca: 'I am going to take him to the Dursleys shortly. He will be safe with his aunt.'

'_Oh no_,' McGonagall thought in exasperation, waving her wand at the screen.

Darth Vader: 'They are the most horrible Muggles I have ever seen.'

R2D2: 'I have to agree. Petunia always hated Lily because of being magical. Even as a seven-year-old she was a bitch.'

Chewbacca: 'I am afraid that we don't have a choice. TTYL.'

'_I can't believe it_,' McGonagall thought. '_Poor Harry_.'

_Four years later ~_

Harry slowly walked home from play school, dreading the beginning winter holidays. '_Such a lot of cooking to do, and then I'm going to be locked into my cupboard with a dry slice of bread and an apple_,' he thought sadly. '_Maybe I can try to draw a really good picture for Father Christmas to show him that I'm a good boy. I'd love to get a Christmas present for once_.' He was pulled out of his thoughts when a figure, completely dressed in a dark blue dress, appeared in front of him.

'_He looks like Father Christmas with his long beard_,' Harry mused, still unable to completely shake his earlier thoughts off. '_Although his clothes are blue_.'

"Harry," the person said, holding out a blue, stuffed animal that looked like a teddy bear. "This is a teletubby for you. Its stomach holds a screen, which turns on if you touch it."

"For me?" Harry asked in disbelief. "But I never receive presents."

"Well then this is the first time," the blue figure replied. "Don't worry; the Dursleys won't be able to see it."

"Thank you," Harry said in surprise, happily cuddling the toy. "Excuse me sir, but are you Father Christmas?" he remembered to ask; however, when he looked up, the person was gone. '_How could he disappear so fast?_' he wondered. '_He must have been Father Christmas._' Looking at his toy to reassure himself that it had not been a dream, he slowly walked home when a sudden thought crossed his mind. '_Maybe it was the devil, since the blue colour of his clothes was so dark that it was nearly black, and Father Christmas never brings presents to me anyway. It could be that the devil does_.' Deciding not to speak about the matter with anyone, Harry eagerly returned to his cupboard, where he sat the teddy on his bed and waved at it.

Immediately, his belly turned into a small screen, and letters appeared. 'What is your name?' Harry deciphered.

"Freak," he replied, hesitantly, wondering if he should have said 'Harry' like he was called at school.

'Hello Freak. Welcome to the Wizardnet,' appeared on the screen, causing the five-year-old to look at his teddy's belly in disbelief, wondering what in the world the Wizardnet could be.

Many miles in the north, the Father Christmas like figure took off the fake beard and changed the dark blue robes to their usual attire with a flick of a wand, musing, '_The poor child. Hopefully, the Wizardnet will help making his stay at the Dursleys' more bearable_.'

During the following years, his blue stuffed teddy became Harry's best and only friend, with whom he shared all his thoughts. Whenever he switched on the screen on the teddy's belly, it was full with writing, which Harry would not understand, even if he managed to decipher the words.

'_This is like a conversation between five people_,' he slowly realised. '_Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, R2D2, Green Thumb and Chewbacca. They have strange names. I wonder who they are. Dudley said something about Darth Vader the other day, didn't he?_' One day when he was speaking to his teddy while the screen was switched on, he noticed in surprise that his words appeared on the screen as well.

Freak: '_Teddy, I'm glad that it's Monday tomorrow. I really don't like weekends_.'

Suddenly, writing appeared right under his own sentence, and Harry stared at the screen in surprise.

Darth Vader: 'You are about the first person complaining about weekends. What is wrong with weekends?'

'_I just hate being locked into my cupboard_,' Harry thought, sighing, before he replied to his teddy, knowing that the words would appear on the screen. "Weekends are boring."

When Darth Vader asked in which year he was, he simply replied, "Six," not really understanding what was meant, and when he was asked in which House he was, he began to panic. '_The Dursleys wouldn't want anyone to know that I'm in their house_,' he mused, replying that he was tired and would go to bed. Not waiting for an answer, he pointed his hand at the teddy to switch the screen off and scrambled into bed, the teddy tucked safely under his arm.

_ A few hours later ~_

"A sixth year, who finds the weekends boring?" Professor Sprout asked in disbelief when the four Heads of House were having tea together with the Headmaster. "Who might that be?"

"I'm at a loss," McGonagall confessed. "I have seen small sentences from him or her from time to time, but I haven't been able to figure out who it is. Which sixth year would take on the name Freak?"

"Very mysterious," the Potions Master agreed. "I can imagine one of the Slytherins taking such a name; however, with all the work groups and chores I assigned, they surely would not find the time to be bored during the weekend."

The Headmaster thoughtfully stroked his beard, absentmindedly listening to his colleagues' conversation as he pondered if Freak was a Hogwarts student at all. "Filius," he turned to the Ravenclaw Head, "Have you been able to see Freak's posts as well?" Seeing that everyone looked at him in disbelief, Dumbledore elaborated, "I was just wondering, considering that we can only see the posts of those, whom we know."

"I am sorry, Albus, but I barely look into the Wizardnet," Flitwick replied, sighing.

_ A few days later ~_

It was a couple of days later that Harry received a private message from Luke Skywalker.

PM Luke Skywalker to Freak: 'Are you Harry?'

"Yes, I'm sorry, but who are you?" Harry asked back, looking at his teddy in surprise that even intensified as he deciphered the next message.

PM Luke Skywalker to Freak: 'You won't remember me, but I am a good friend. I saw you a few times when you were a baby. It was me who gave you the teddy.'

'_I thought that was Father Christmas? Or the devil?_' Harry thought in confusion but could not help somehow feeling happy. '_I have a friend_,' he mused, a rare smile playing on his face.

ウィザードネット

During the following months, Harry followed all conversations on the Wizardnet with interest. '_It sounds as if these people were at a school_,' he realised. '_But what are they talking about? And who or what is Hogwarts? They're talking about it the whole time_.' One day, when he was locked in his cupboard and very bored, he discovered that there was a search function on top of the page, which activated when he put his forefinger on it. Pointing to the search part, he asked 'Hogwarts,' looking at the screen in expectation that turned into disbelief when the explanation appeared.

'Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, located in Scotland, is a boarding school for magical children from the age of eleven onwards. It was founded by Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff. It is the largest and most known magical school in Britain and due to its ancient wards undetectable for Muggles.'

'_A magical school?_' Harry thought in disbelief, cuddling his teddy close as he stretched out on his mattress to ponder the matter. '_But I thought there was no such thing as magic?_'

ウィザードネット

During the following days, Harry eagerly observed the conversations on the Wizardnet. Now that he knew what Hogwarts was, they made more sense to him, although he could not understand why all these people of a magical school would know him. '_Maybe they were friends of my Mummy and Daddy like Luke Skywalker said_,' he mused and decided to ask Luke Skywalker about magic.

PM Freak to Luke Skywalker: 'Does magic really exist? My uncle always says there is no such thing as magic.'

The reply came a few hours later.

PM Luke Skywalker to Freak: 'I am sorry, Harry, for replying so late. I was very busy working today. Yes, magic exists. You are a wizard, Harry, just like your father was a wizard and your mother a witch. Did your relatives never tell you that?'

PM Freak to Luke Skywalker: 'No, they always say there is no such thing as magic.'

Harry looked at the screen in disbelief as he read the following message from Luke Skywalker. 'Hold on, child. When you turn eleven, you are going to come to Hogwarts, and if you ever have problems before that, feel free to contact me, and I will try to help you. Don't tell your relatives about the Wizardnet and that I told you about magic though.'

Harry promised and hugged his teddy close, thinking that he would never ever reveal his secret to the Dursleys.

ウィザードネット

It was several months later that Harry unintentionally broke his promise. Two weeks before Christmas, the teacher at the primary school instructed the children to draw pictures of their best Christmas memory in order to decorate the classroom for the Christmas party, which was going to take place in the afternoon together with the pupils' parents.

'_Christmas_,' Harry thought with mixed feelings. There was only one good thing about Christmas, although he was not sure yet about the relationship between Luke Skywalker and Father Christmas. He eagerly began to draw a tall figure with a long, blue coat and an enormous white beard. The person was smiling kindly. '_At me_,' Harry mused as he continued to draw, his small tongue wandering over his lips as he concentrated on the small figure that was wearing much too large trousers and his favourite red jumper.

"Very nicely done," the teacher commended him kindly as she stood in front of him. "Are you done, Harry?"

"No," Harry said quickly and waited until the teacher had turned away, before he stared at the picture, remembering how Luke Skywalker AKA Father Christmas had presented him with his best friend, the wonderful blue teddy bear, just a year ago. When the teacher came around the next time, he handed her the painting, anxiously awaiting her reaction.

However, the teacher, who was already used to Harry's special way of painting, looked at the scene with interest, observing how the strangely looking Father Christmas handed Harry a teddy bear, causing the small boy's face to light up with joy. "Well done, sweetie," she commended him again and added the paper to the pile of paintings on her desk.

Harry smiled, feeling very proud of his work, and unobtrusively pulled his teddy bear out of his bag, happily cuddling the toy.

ウィザードネット

In the afternoon, however, the other children's parents gathered in front of his painting, which was the only freakish one among all the nice pictures. Harry noticed in shock how his uncle's face turned red with anger, before the man pulled him out of the room and dragged him home.

"How dare you openly show your freakishness?" he bellowed as he pulled Harry into the hall.

"I'm not a freak, I'm a wizard, and the teacher said she liked my picture," Harry stammered in shock, trying in vain to escape from his uncle, who was gripping his wrists shaking him in anger.

"Don't say such freaky things in my presence. There is no such thing as magic," Vernon hissed, fiercely shoving Harry into his cupboard, before he locked the cupboard from the outside, neither registering nor caring that Harry hit his head against the wall.

"Ouch," he moaned, glad that his teddy was so kind and always patiently listened to him. "My head hurts so much from hitting the wall. I'm going to be sick."

Unbeknownst to Harry, the screen on the teddy's belly had turned on when the teddy hit the ground together with Harry, and his mutterings to the teddy became visible on the Wizardnet, where it caused a flood of responses, which Harry noticed in surprise after emptying the meagre contents of his stomach in a corner of his cupboard.

Darth Vader: 'What happened?'

Green thumb: 'What is wrong?'

Chewbacca: 'If you are hurt, you must seek help.'

R2D2: 'We will only be able to help you if you reveal yourself.'

'_Oh no, I can't tell anyone. Uncle Vernon will be so angry if I complain_,' Harry mused, considering if he should switch off the screen, when another private message appeared.

PM Luke Skywalker to Freak: 'Hold on, sweetie. I'm going to come over and help you as soon as I manage to get away from here.'

Still feeling nauseous and in pain, Harry lay down on his mattress, once again wondering if Luke Skywalker was Father Christmas or not, when a sudden thought crossed his mind. '_How is he going to get to me?_'

Wearily holding his teddy in front of his face, he pointed his forefinger against Luke Skywalker's name in order to send a private message back.

PM Freak to Luke Skywalker: 'I am in my cupboard. It is under the stairs and is locked, but the Dursleys are still at school and the doors are probably locked.'

A few minutes later, the response arrived.

PM Luke Skywalker to Freak: 'No problem, Harry. Give me a few more minutes.'

HP

Harry was on the verge of falling asleep, when he heard the locks of the cupboard being opened. A mere instant later, the Father Christmas figure in the dark blue one-piece stepped into the cupboard. '_His long, white beard is amazing_,' Harry thought, looking at his visitor with anxiousness.

"Hello Harry, what exactly is wrong?" the person asked in a kind voice, giving him a sharp look.

"I hit my head against the wall, but it's not so bad," Harry replied, trying to hide how miserable he felt.

"And you got sick," his visitor stated, pulling a stick out of the dark blue robes. "Don't worry, Harry. I will do a little magic, and everything will be much better in a blink."

"All right," Harry said, anxiously watching every move of the stick that suddenly became very busy. '_That must be a wand_,' he thought when his cupboard became clean again and the bad smell vanished. '_Luke must be a wizard like me. Would I be able to do such things as well if I had such a stick?_' Unfortunately, before he could ask anything, he drifted off to sleep.

When Harry woke up in the morning, he felt considerably better. '_Luke Skywalker made me feel all better_,' he thought gratefully, pulling his teddy close to thank the kind wizard. Completely forgetting to send a private message, he told the teddy, "Luke Skywalker, thank you for making me all better."

_tbc..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Whispers on the Wizardnet ****- by Healer Pomfrey**

_Please refer to the content/warnings/disclaimer note above page 1. _

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**Chapter 2**

Professor McGonagall looked at the display with a mixture of confusion and anger.

Freak: 'Luke Skywalker, thank you for making me all better.'

'_Poppy knew who Freak is and did not tell us, although we have been worrying about him or her for ages_,' she thought, feeling very upset at her best friend. Pointing her wand at the charmed wall, she voiced her opinion.

Darth Vader: 'Luke Skywalker, why did you not tell us?'

R2D2: 'May we at least ask that you reveal his identity to his Head of House?'

'_Thank you, Severus_,' Minerva thought gratefully, when her eyes fell onto the next post.

Luke Skywalker: 'Ever heard of a Healer's Oath?'

'_Why would the revelation of his House identity affect your Healer's Oath_?' Minerva thought in exasperation, pointing her wand at the screen, groaning when the response showed up.

Luke Skywalker: 'That is for me to know and for you to find out. I am sorry.'

'_I can't believe it._' Now completely annoyed, Minerva pointed her wand at the dislike button underneath the last entry, grinning contentedly upon noticing that R2D2 had just followed her example.

ウィザードネット

Harry followed the conversation in confusion, finally realising that he had forgotten to send a private message. Pointing his forefinger at Luke Skywalker's name, he said, 'I am sorry for getting you into trouble.' Anxiously waiting for a reply, he let out a relieved sigh as he deciphered the message.

PM Luke Skywalker to Freak: 'No problem, Harry. I know how to handle my meddling colleagues. You had a slight concussion, which is already healed, but you should take it easy during the weekend. Tell me if you have problems again, and be more careful in your cupboard. I know that it is small, but still.'

PM Freak to Luke Skywalker: 'Thank you very much.'

_At Hogwarts ~_

Poppy let out a relieved sigh. '_That went well_,' she thought. '_No one is supposed to know that Harry has access to the Wizardnet, especially since even the students are only allowed to have a computer and access to the Wizardnet after finishing their OWLs. Even if I am sure that Minerva would support me concerning Harry's welfare, she would insist on the Wizardnet access rule_.'

In fact, Poppy had been very close to Harry's mother Lily, who had been her apprentice while she attended the Healer's course at St. Mungo's. Harry had always been like a grandson to her, since Lily had used to bring him to work with her and they had taken turns looking after him. She had been terrified hearing that Dumbledore had taken the child to the Dursleys; however, there was nothing she could do about it, apart from telling Minerva and Albus that Petunia hated magic and surely was an unfit guardian for Lily's sweet baby. As soon as she deemed Harry able to read and use the Wizardnet, she had given him the teddy in order to secretly keep an eye on the boy, for whom she somehow felt responsible.

'_I wonder how he managed to get that concussion_,' she mused. '_And how can they lock him into a cupboard, which even seems to be his usual room, especially if he is unwell?_' She resolved to keep an even closer eye on the boy's rare comments on the Wizardnet. '_I hope the charm I cast on him last night will work over the distance_.'

ウィザードネット

During the following months, Harry was very careful not to speak aloud with his teddy, when the Wizardnet was switched on, remembering that Luke Skywalker had told him that he should try not to reveal who he was, because he was much too small to use the Wizardnet. It was nearly a year later on a Monday morning in November that he once again unintentionally posted a complaint about the Dursleys to the Wizardnet.

Freak: 'Oh Teddy, I don't feel good. I had to paint the garden fence four times, because it rained cats and dogs and the rain washed the colour of again and again. And then Aunt Petunia locked me out, and I had to spend the whole night in the garden. It was so cold. I missed you Teddy.'

While he was still talking to Teddy, he noticed that his conversation appeared on the screen. '_Oh no, I forgot_,' he thought in desperation, anxiously waiting for the replies, while he feverishly pondered what to do. '_I think there was a delete button somewhere_,' he thought, feeling slightly relieved when he did not get a reply straight away. Suddenly, he remembered that he had to click on 'Profile' on the top in order to get to his profile, where he could delete his own entries. He quickly deleted all the posts, which he had ever posted, remembering what Luke Skywalker had told him. To his relief, he was just done when Petunia shouted from the hall that it was time to go to school.

ウィザードネット

Unbeknownst to Harry, Poppy had activated a news feed that made it possible for her to see all posts from Freak, even if he deleted them after posting. '_I can't believe how Petunia behaves towards the child_,' she thought angrily, deciding to go and check on Harry in the evening. However, when a few hours later, the charm, which she had placed on the boy, alerted her that he was so sick that he needed her attention, she decided to take action.

Pointing her wand at the charmed screen right next to the portrait of Helga Hufflepuff on the wall in front of her desk, she posted a private message to one of her most trusted colleagues.

PM Luke Skywalker to R2D2: 'Severus, I am sorry to bother you on a Monday afternoon, but I need to go on an errand. Please take over the hospital wing for me. I hope to be back soon.'

'_I hope he'll be at his desk and not in the middle of some brewing_,' she mused, impatiently waiting for a reply, which fortunately arrived after a few seconds.

PM R2D2: 'It clearly escaped your attention that I am teaching a class. Very well then, enjoy yourself.'

'_I'll surely do so_,' Poppy thought grimly as she pointed her wand at the wall to switch off the screen. Putting a parchment up to the door of the hospital wing that would direct all students and teachers, who were looking for her, to Professor Snape, she hurried out of the castle and to the Apparition border, from where she apparated to a side street of Privet Drive, just around the corner from the Dursleys' residence.

She looked at Petunia in surprise, unwilling to believe that she was Lily's sister. 'Well, why did I suppose her to be more like Lily, considering that she abuses Harry?' she told herself, quickly searching for words.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Dursley. I am Poppy Pomfrey, and I'd like to check on Harry. I heard that he is sick," she said as politely as she could towards the unsympathetic woman.

"Harry is fine," Petunia replied in surprise, "and he is still at school. I don't know who told you anything, but the people from Child service have already been here last year and..."

"I am not from Child's Service," Poppy interrupted her angrily. "I am Lily's former teacher, and I am concerned about her son, which is why I want to see the child."

"You're one of them!" Petunia shrieked, trying to shut the door into Poppy's face. However, the witch was faster.

"I will go and meet Harry at his school," she said calmly. "However, I'd like to suggest something to you. May I come in for a minute?"

Petunia grudgingly allowed Poppy into the house. "You have exactly two minutes," she hissed, looking at her sister's former teacher in expectation.

"Two minutes will suffice," Poppy replied icily, pulling a parchment out of her robe pocket. "If you put your signature under these guardianship parchments and promise not to tell anyone about it, I will refrain from reporting you to the Ministry of Magic because of child abuse."

"Child abuse?" Petunia scoffed. "How dare you accuse me..."

"I have magical means to check on the boy that alerted me to the fact that Harry is not only neglected, but clearly abused, and I am able to prove it if necessary," Poppy said in a calm voice, wondering if it would have been better to bring Severus along.

"I cannot sign this paper, because my husband's signature is necessary as well," Petunia said, triumphantly.

"Mrs. Dursley, I suggest that you already sign the guardianship parchment. If necessary, I will return for your husband's signature tonight," Poppy said in a no-nonsense voice that usually worked on her patients – students and teachers equally.

She inwardly sighed in relief when Petunia apparently chose to not further anger her and instead use the opportunity to get rid of the unwanted seven-year-old. As soon as Petunia finished writing, the parchment automatically rolled itself up and vanished from the sight, much to Poppy's delight.

"Apparently, your husband's signature is not necessary," she stated contentedly. "Please allow me to gather Harry's belongings from his room, and I won't bother you again," she promised.

When Petunia leaned into the cupboard to fetch Harry's baby blanket, Poppy unobtrusively waved her wand at the Muggle, placing a well thought charm at her that would also affect her husband and son. Confirming with a small glimpse into the cupboard that Harry had taken his teddy with him, she took her leave. She apparated to a quiet side street near Harry's school.

ウィザードネット

Harry slowly dragged himself out of the school, feeling absolutely miserable yet relieved that he had managed to hide his indisposition from the teacher. The last time he had been sick, the teacher had made a fuss, the school nurse had been upset because Aunt Petunia had not picked him up, and the Dursleys had been enraged that they had received a phone call from the school, especially when his teacher and the nurse had alerted someone and accused them of child neglect. Only because of Vernon Dursley's vast connections, the accusations had been dismissed fairly quickly.

Harry slowly pulled his teddy out of his bag, cuddling him close as he slowly dragged himself along the street. He noticed that every step he took made it more difficult to breathe. Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Just when he reached the corner, where Father Christmas had given him Teddy almost two years ago, an older woman stepped into his way. She had grey hair and was wearing a dark blue coat. Harry was sure that he had never seen her before. Still, something about her felt strangely familiar. Before he could realise what it was, the woman spoke up in a soft voice.

"Hello Harry," she said, giving him a sharp look.

"Hello," Harry replied quietly, unable to muster the energy to ask who the woman was.

"I am Poppy Pomfrey AKA Luke Skywalker," the lady kindly answered his silent question.

Harry looked up in surprise, and a small smile flashed over his face, when Poppy continued, "I came to take you to Hogwarts with me. I will explain everything later on. Let's go and make you feel better first."

Harry quietly nodded his head, and before he knew what happened, he felt a strange pull behind his navel, and the world began to turn around, before everything turned black.

_~ At Hogwarts ~_

When Harry's mind turned back to awareness, he heard a voice call him like from far away.

"Harry?"

He slowly opened his eyes, looking around in confusion. He found himself in a small bedroom that was kept in light pastel colours. The rays of the late afternoon sun flooded the room, turning it into a bright, yellowish light. He was lying in an extremely comfortable bed. The lady in the blue coat was now wearing what seemed to be a white one-piece. 'She is Luke Skywalker,' he remembered, feeling strangely comforted in her presence.

"Harry, I'm going to check on you," she announced in a soft voice and began to wave her wand over him.

'_It's all right. She did that the last time and made me feel better_,' Harry told himself to overcome his uneasiness that came with the attention, which he had barely ever experienced before. From the corner of his eyes, he observed how the kind woman put her wand away and nodded wearily when she instructed him to wait, while she would go and fetch some potions for him.

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Poppy watched as the small boy succumbed to the potions, which she had just administered, before she proceeded to perform a series of diagnostic spells, which could only be cast on children with their guardian's consent. She closed her eyes for an instant, silently groaning to herself. '_The poor child_,' she thought in sympathy. '_I should have gone to rescue him much earlier. What am I going to do now though? Albus insists that he has to stay with those horrid relatives of him. I can either report them for child abuse or hide Harry from Albus_.'

She sat on the edge of Harry's bed, while her thoughts went haywire. Only when she was pulled out of her musings by Helga Hufflepuff's portrait that alerted her from the living room that she had a patient, she made a decision. '_I will inform Severus and seek his help and advice_,' she resolved and hurried through the connection door into the hospital wing.

During the next few hours, Poppy remained extremely busy, due to some bug that was going around Ravenclaw, and she was grateful that at the beginning of curfew, Harry was still peacefully asleep. She sat at her desk, pointing her wand at the screen in the wall.

PM Luke Skywalker to R2D2: 'Severus, I need to talk with you in private.'

Impatiently waiting for the reply, Poppy absentmindedly followed the conversation on the Wizardnet, looking at the screen in expectance when an envelope popped up, showing the arrival of a private message from R2D2.

PM R2D2 to Luke Skywalker: 'Poppy, give me a few minutes, and I'll be there.'

'_Thank Merlin, I can always rely on Severus_,' Poppy thought and headed to her private quarters to check on Harry.

ウィザードネット

"I hope you cast an adequate thank you charm at Petunia," the Potions Master said grimly. "How dare she treat Lily's child like that?"

Poppy let out a long sigh. "Maybe I should have done that," she said thoughtfully, absentmindedly observing how he guided his mug to his lips. It was the one, which she had made for him after he finished his Potions Mastery. A silver cauldron in front of a dark green back was trying to catch an herb that protested fiercely against flying into the cauldron. '_Don't insert me or I will make everything explode_,' appeared in small, silver letters, right before the cauldron exploded into tiny pieces that automatically assembled to the cauldron again after an instant. "I only cast a charm on Petunia, which will make the Dursleys tell anyone who asks that Harry had just gone to visit a friend and that they don't know when he will be back."

Snape shot her a disbelieving look. "Do I understand correctly that you plan to hide him from Albus?" he queried, lifting an eyebrow.

_tbc..._

_

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_Thank you for your kind comments to this and my other stories._


	3. Chapter 3

**Whispers on the Wizardnet ****- by Healer Pomfrey**

_Please refer to the content/warnings/disclaimer note above page 1._

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"Severus, I really don't know what to do," Poppy admitted. "That's why I wanted to speak with you. I know that Minerva would fully support us, but..."

"She can't know that he is Freak and has access to the Wizardnet," Snape interrupted her, nodding in understanding.

"Exactly," Poppy agreed, feeling extremely relieved to be able to share the problem. "Severus, what do you suggest I should do?"

"Very well then," the Slytherin replied in determination. "Let's tell Minerva that I went to check on the boy, because I have known Petunia since we were small and couldn't imagine her to be a good guardian for Lily's boy. Seeing his poor condition, it was obvious that I had to bring him here, and since I had to keep up appearances, I couldn't become his guardian but chose you instead. Do you think she will believe this explanation?"

"She will buy it," Poppy replied, smiling gratefully at her colleague and friend.

ウィザードネット

Professor McGonagall eyed the Potions Master in disbelief. "You went to the Dursleys to check on little Harry?" she queried, while scenes of her youngest colleague and the boy's father passed in front of her mind.

Snape let out a long sigh and explained what he had told Poppy earlier, causing the Gryffindor Head's expression to soften. "Very well done then, Severus," she said in appreciation. "What are we going to do with Harry though?"

"I thought he could attend the primary school in Hogsmeade," Poppy said slowly. "However, in order to hide him from Albus, we need to change his name."

"Do you really think that's necessary?" McGonagall asked, sceptically. "Albus..."

"Minerva, you know as well as I do how Albus insisted for the boy to be placed with his horrid relatives," Snape interrupted her firmly. "We can either hide him from Albus or will need to accuse the Dursleys of child abuse, which would be the only method to make him accept one of us as Harry's guardian. A trial at the Ministry, however, would be terrifying for the child, because he would have to reveal everything about his former home life in front of a large audience. Changing his name will be much less stressful for him."

"How about Ciarán?" McGonagall suggested. "It means 'Little dark one' in Gaelic and would be a fitting name for him."

"I love the name," Poppy replied warmly, smiling at her friend.

"Ciarán Pomfrey sounds all right," Snape agreed, smirking. "Do you have the guardianship parchments?" He studied the parchment that Poppy placed in front of him and pointed his wand at Harry's name, causing the writing to change from Harry Potter to Ciarán Pomfrey."

"Thank you Severus," Poppy said gratefully. "Could you please also add the two of you as godparents, if you don't mind?"

"I'd love to become his godmother," McGonagall threw in, nodding eagerly.

"Very well," Snape agreed and once again pointed his wand at the parchment.

'_Severus is amazing_,' Poppy thought, somehow feeling proud of her colleague, who had been like a son to her during his own Hogwarts years. '_No one else here is able to change official parchments in a way that the data will be transferred to the Ministry_.'

"Where is Harry by the way?" McGonagall queried, before he corrected herself, "Sorry, I mean Ciarán of course. I hope he'll agree to his new name at all. It'll take some time to get used to it."

"He will," Poppy replied, smiling, although the thought '_He is used to be called Freak_' shot through her mind. "He is such a cutie. At the moment, he is sick and in bed asleep. I suggest that you visit us again tomorrow, and then I'll introduce both of you to him.

"Very well then, we'll need to set up a nice story for Albus," Snape replied, smirking, before he excused himself, stating that he had a pile of parchments waiting for him to grade.

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When Harry woke up, feeling much better due to the potions that Poppy had spelled into his stomach before retiring to bed, it was dark. Only one torch out in the hall in front of his room was lit, sending a warm, yellowish light into his room. '_This is my new home now_,' Harry thought, happily cuddling his teddy. Feeling very hesitant, remembering that Poppy had told him no one at Hogwarts was supposed to know that he had access to the Wizardnet, he slowly switched on the screen of his teddy's belly, only to look in disbelief at the latest entries.

Luke Skywalker: 'Today was an exciting day. This morning, I heard that my cousin unexpectedly died last week, so I went to take in my nephew Ciarán this afternoon. He is seven years old. Chewbacca, I hope that you don't mind Ciarán living here together with me.'

'_I thought the nice lady, who took me in, was Luke Skywalker. Who is Ciarán then? Does she mean me?_' Harry wondered in confusion, turning to the next entry.

Darth Vader: 'Aww, it will be wonderful to have a younger child here at Hogwarts for a change. Feel free to contact me if you ever need anyone to look after him.'

'_I wonder how the professors are. Darth Vader seems to be nice_,' Harry thought, looking at the screen in shock as he read on.

Chewbacca: 'Ah but Hogwarts is not a good place for young children. It might be dangerous for him to roam the halls, when the students try out spells on each other.'

'_Oh no; I wonder if Chewbacca is the Headmaster, who Luke Skywalker was talking about_,' Harry thought, terrified. '_I just hope that he won't send me away_.' He sighed in relief as he deciphered the following entry.

Luke Skywalker: 'Well, if you do not approve of Ciarán living here with me, I will move back to Hogsmeade and only stay at Hogwarts during the day.'

R2D2: 'Chewbacca, you can't mean that. We need Luke Skywalker here, even during the nights. Moreover, I have been selected to become the boy's godfather, and I will make sure that he receives a wand and knows a few defence spells as soon as possible.'

'_I'm going to have a dogfather, whatever that is, and a wand?_' Harry could not believe his luck. With a smile playing on his lips, he lay down and drifted back into a potions induced slumber.

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In the morning, Poppy spent every free minute with Harry, telling him about Hogwarts, about her colleagues and the students. She also spoke with him about how his parents had died and why the Headmaster insisted that he had to live with his relatives as well as about the necessity of changing his identity. Even if Harry could not understand every single detail of her explanation, he agreed with all suggestions, thinking that being called Ciarán was much preferable to what his relatives had used to name him.

Poppy made Harry eat lunch together with her in her small kitchen, observing in shock how apprehensive the boy was about being allowed to sit at the table and eat together with her. '_Petunia probably didn't even feed him properly_,' she thought, feeling more and more upset at Harry's relatives. '_I don't know if it is wise to take him with me to have dinner in the Great Hall as long as he is so uncertain with everything, although I had hoped that he would feel well enough to accompany me to the Great Hall tonight_,' she thought. She gently led Harry back to his room, when a different thought crossed her mind, leaving her very pensive for the rest of the afternoon.

'_I have to do something about his appearance_,' she mused. '_Changing his name only doesn't suffice in the slightest. To everyone, who knew James Potter, it will be absolutely obvious that he is his son, along with Lily's wonderful, green eyes. I need to discuss this with Severus and Minerva as soon as they come here after their last afternoon class_.'

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"Adopt him," Snape suggested, smirking. "If you give him a blood adoption potion, he won't look like the spitting image of Potter anymore. We also need to cast a very strong concealment charm on his scar. In fact, I believe that the three of us should cast it together in order to prevent Albus from looking through it."

"Poppy, I do think that would be the best," McGonagall agreed, smiling at her friend.

"No," Poppy replied in determination. "I cannot do that." Seeing that the others eyed her in confusion, she added, "The poor child. He does not even know what everything is about. He easily accepted me as his guardian; however, he seems as attractive as his father was, and no one can tell us how he would look after taking a blood adoption potion."

"That's just stupid," McGonagall replied firmly. "And since it is too late to ask anyone else to adopt him, considering that you already told Albus about him, you just have to make him your blood relative."

"I'll go and brew the potion for you," Snape announced and swiftly left the healer's office.

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After dinner, Poppy deemed Harry well enough to stay up for a while and led him into the living room, announcing that Professors McGonagall and Snape were going to come to meet him shortly. "Both of them were good friends with your mother, just like myself," she explained, smiling contentedly when a smile replaced the anxiousness on the boy's face.

"Do I have to put Teddy into my room?" Harry asked softly.

"No sweetie, as long as you don't switch the screen on in front of others, it's all right. Professor Snape knows that you are Freak on the Wizardnet; however, don't tell Professor McGonagall," Poppy said kindly, making a mental note to suggest changing his Wizardnet name as soon as the boy had become used to living at Hogwarts with her.

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Harry could not help feeling extremely nervous. Of course, he knew R2D2 and Darth Vader from the Wizardnet, and he had read their kind comments concerning himself in their conversation with the Headmaster the previous evening. On the other hand, from following the Wizardnet for nearly two years, he knew that both professors were very strict towards their students. '_I hope they're as nice as Poppy_,' he thought, looking up frightened when a tall wizard in completely black attire entered the room, looking extremely intimidating.

"Potter," the man acknowledged his presence, before Poppy playfully slapped his arm.

"Don't frighten the child, Severus," she chided him lightly, before she turned to Harry and introduced Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall, who chose that instant to enter the room.

"Hello Harry," the Gryffindor Head said friendly, smiling at the child. "My, aren't you a big boy? The last time I saw you, you were only a year old. Your mother often brought you to Hogwarts, so that I could baby-sit you."

Harry smiled back at the older witch, before he said in a small voice, "Good evening, Professors."

Harry, his guardian and his godparents spent the next hour talking about his new identity as Ciarán and about the primary school in Hogsmeade, which was a primary school for magical children.

'_I'm going to get to go to school together with other children, who happen to do freaky things?_' Harry thought in disbelief, smiling happily.

"Are you looking forward to go to the school in Hogsmeade?" McGonagall asked, noticing that he looked enthusiastically.

"Very much," Harry replied eagerly. "Can I go there tomorrow?"

"It is 'May' I go there, Ciarán," Snape corrected him in a soft, baritone voice.

"Yes sir," Harry replied quietly, repeating his question in a barely audible voice.

"I spoke with the Headmistress, and you may attend school tomorrow if you're well enough," Poppy informed him. "That reminds me that you should go to bed in order to recover quickly. Professor Snape will give you the adoption potion when you're in bed."

Harry obediently said good night to the teachers and headed to the bathroom, before he returned to his room, eyeing the phial, which his new godfather held out to him, uardianwith apprehension.

"Ciarán," the Potions Master spoke up in a soft voice, "you already know why you need to take the potion, don't you?"

"Yes sir," Harry replied quickly, reaching for the phial.

"This won't hurt you. Even if your limbs might change in the process, which can cause pain, you won't feel anything, because Poppy has spelt a strong pain relieving potion into your system together with your other potions. This one, however, you have to drink. It cannot be administered by a spell."

"All right sir," Harry replied, feeling extremely grateful that the man took so much time to speak with him and even reply to his unasked questions. He obediently gulped down the disgusting, dark red liquid, before he felt himself being pushed down on his pillow. Although he felt no pain, it was a strange feeling when his body began to change, and when he blinked, he saw from the corner of his eyes how the three adults looked at him in shock.

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments - here and on facebook!_


	4. Chapter 4

**Whispers on the Wizardnet ****- by Healer Pomfrey**

_Please refer to the content/warnings/disclaimer note above page 1._

* * *

**Chapter 4**

"Is everything all right?" Harry whispered, looking questioningly at Poppy.

"Of course, sweetie. Are you feeling all right?" she replied, sitting on the edge of his bed. "It's just that instead of looking exactly like your father, you now have your mother's red hair in addition to her green eyes. You look very handsome, Ciarán."

"The spitting image of Lily," Snape said in amazement, more to himself than to the others.

"Is that bad?" Harry asked anxiously.

"Not at all Ciarán. It's wonderful. We are only surprised that you look more like Lily than like Poppy or your father anymore," McGonagall explained gently.

'_How strange_,' Poppy thought. Something was triggering her mind, but she could not place it. "Very well then, good night Ciarán; sleep well." With that she ushered her colleagues out of the room, noxing the torches as she followed them, observing from the corner of her eyes how Ciarán cuddled his teddy close. "Let's have some tea," she invited the boy's godparents and complimented them into her office, so that she could keep an eye on her patients in the hospital wing.

It was a few hours later, when her colleagues had retreated to their own quarters, that Poppy switched on the screen for the Wizardnet and received a strange message.

PM Marmalade Cat to Luke Skywalker: 'Poppy, today is the first of August, 1980, and I am sending this message by a time delay charm. Something made it possible to reveal some information, which I took away from you by a memory charm. I am sorry. Please forgive me, especially since I will probably be dead if you receive this message. You need to ask Severus, which my favourite dish is in order to open the right bottom drawer in your office. Everything that you need to know is inside the drawer. Thank you for everything.'

'_Am I delirious?_' Poppy wondered. Her thoughts went haywire, but something told her that the message was original and not a prank. She forwarded the message to her younger colleague and waited impatiently for his reply. Fortunately, it did not take long, before a private message appeared.

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Severus was sitting behind his desk. The dungeons were quiet, since it was far beyond curfew, and he enjoyed the silence, at the same time regretting that he had spent too much time having chit-chat with his older colleagues, time that he would have needed badly in order to grade several piles of homework. He let out a long sigh as he pushed the finished fifth years' essays away, blinking in surprise as his eyes fell on the Wizardnet screen, where a private message from Luke Skywalker was waiting for him.

'_What is it now?_' he thought in annoyance. '_It's not as if we hadn't spent the whole evening together_.' Waving his hand at the screen, he nearly chocked upon reading the message. '_Marmalade Cat?_' he thought in disbelief. His thoughts returned to the time, when he had been married to the most beautiful witch of the world. One day, he had bought a Japanese cook book as an apology of spending too many hours in his favourite bookshop, The Ink Pot, and had begun to cook Japanese dishes for her. Severus always used to cook, while they were living together, and his wonderful wife had never complained about his cooking; however, she had been especially fond of his Japanese dishes. '_Forcing her to divorce was the biggest mistake I ever made_,' he mused for the umpteenth time, fighting back the tears that welled at the back of his eyes. '_Maybe I would have been able to keep her safe_.' All of a sudden, the dungeons seemed strangely cold and lonely, and he decided to go for a stroll through the halls, thinking, '_Maybe making some Gryffindor students' life miserable will make me feel better_.' Before he left, he waved his hand at the screen, sending a note to his best friend.

PM R2D2 to Luke Skywalker: 'Gyoza.'

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Poppy impatiently paced her office, every now and then taking a few steps towards her living room to confirm that her new adoptive son was peacefully asleep in his bed. '_What is Severus doing? I hope he is not brewing but sitting at his desk, where he will eventually see my message_' she thought impatiently, glimpsing from the locked drawer to the Wizardnet screen and back, before she bustled into the hospital wing to check if everything was quiet. The drawer had been bothering her for ages. She had asked each of her colleagues to help her open it; however, no one had been able to break the spell or charm that kept its content safe from the world. '_A charm_,' she mused as she sank into the chair behind her desk, staring at the screen. She sighed, rubbing her forehead in exhaustion. '_As if this day had not been stressful and eventful enough_,' she thought. '_I don't need anything else to add to my headache_.' Her eyes fell on the shelf housing the phials with the headache potion. Each of them was labelled in Severus' neat hand writing, but due to her own stomach problems she could not bring herself to taking any of them if not absolutely inevitable. She sighed in relief as finally an envelope appeared on the screen and the private message from the Potions Master was displayed.

"Gyoza," Poppy told the drawer, letting herself sink onto the floor in disbelief as the furniture gave in and allowed her to pull the drawer open after so many years of being locked. However, if she had expected anything interesting to be inside, she was badly disappointed. '_An empty drawer?_' she thought, incredulously. She was just about to close it and go to bed, shaking her head in confusion, when she noticed a tiny phial at the far back of the drawer. 'A memory,' she realised, sighing in exasperation at the thought of having to borrow a Pensieve from someone. However, as she closely inspected the phial, she noticed that a small letter was attached.

'_Dear Poppy, first of all, let me apologize for what I did to you. At this time, I am not even sure why I obliviated you. It is not that I do not trust you. On the contrary, except for Severus, you are the only one, whom I would trust with my life. Anyway, please do not show this memory to anyone or insert it into anyone else's Pensieve. Watch it alone and then decide what to do. Thank you, my best friend and mentor. Lily_.'

Poppy closed her eyes for a moment, listening into her mind; however, there was only a faint feeling as if she knew what this was about. Dreading to watch the memory but at the same time eager to do so, she quickly dismissed the sudden thought of finally taking a headache potion and pointed her wand successively at the phial and at her forehead.

_**(Memory of 1979) **_

Poppy looked up from her paper work in surprise when Lily finally stepped out of the fireplace, uncharacteristically late for her young apprentice. She looked extremely pale, and her eyes were red as if she had cried. "Lily," Poppy said in shock, "what happened?" Never had she seen the young woman cry, except for once in her fifth year as a student.

"Poppy," Lily sobbed, throwing herself into her mentor's arms. "Severus left me. One of the Death Eaters hacked his Wizardnet account and got to know that he is married to a Muggle born, and apparently, they threatened to come and kill me if he didn't separate immediately. Anyway, he told me that it was too dangerous for me to be together with him and I should go and marry someone on the light side."

Totally shocked, Poppy gently rubbed circles into the younger witch's back. '_Lily and Severus are such a wonderful couple. Is that really necessary?_' she thought and suggested, "Lily, why don't you just remain here at Hogwarts with me for the time being? I could very well use an assistant also during the nights, and if anyone checks your house, they will assume that you left Severus. You don't even have to divorce. Maybe you can pull through like this until the war is over." She looked at her apprentice in surprise, when Lily began to sob even more.

"He already left," she whispered in a barely audible voice. "He must have stayed up all night and packed and cleaned up his lab, and this morning, he just informed me, kissed me and left."

_(End of memory)_

With that the memory ended, and Poppy remained thoughtful for an instant. '_I never knew why Lily suddenly was together with James_,' she thought. '_However, that does not explain everything_.' Before she could follow the thought, she was pulled in another memory.

_(Memory of autumn 1979)_

Ready to retreat to her private quarters for the night, Poppy returned to her office, where her apprentice was putting data into the data bank of St. Mungo's on the Wizardnet.

"Let's call it a night," she said, yawning as she glanced over Lily's shoulder at the screen.

"Poppy," Lily said in a small voice, averting her eyes to the floor, "could you please cast a quick diagnostic spell on me?"

Poppy gave her apprentice a sharp look, suddenly feeling wide awake. '_Lily asks me to perform a diagnostic in spite of playing hide and seek with me if she has caught as much as a cold?_' she thought, alarmed, as she pulled her wand. A minute later, she let her wand sink, torn between happiness and shock at the result.

"So it is true," Lily said matter-of-factly. "Poppy, is it possible to prolong a pregnancy?"

_(End of memory)_

Poppy remembered how during the following weeks, while Lily agreed to one of James' Potter's weekly proposals, Lily and Poppy performed a thorough research concerning concealment charms and other spells that could be cast at an unborn baby. With her help, Lily placed all possible charms on her son. '_So Ciarán is Severus' son as well as my adoptive child_,' Poppy realised. '_Why couldn't she give me back my memories earlier? There was no need for me to adopt him_.'

'_Even if Severus accepts him as his son, Albus might want to interfere_,' a small voice at the back of her mind spoke knowingly, causing her to let out a long sigh. Before she could decide what to do now, another memory of the time when Lily was still alive appeared at the front of her mind.

_(Memory of October 1981)_

"Poppy, I had a bunch of visions, and I believe that James and I are going to die very soon," Lily spoke up, when they sat down to have a quick lunch in their office one day. Glancing over to Harry, who was peacefully chewing on his teddy's arm in his playpen, she continued, "Please help Harry if necessary."

"Lily, I will do whatever I can," Poppy promised, having a hard time to focus on the younger witch's words, while her mind screamed, '_Is she a Seer? I hope not. I wouldn't want to lose her. I love her as if she was my own_.' "Harry is like a grandchild to me," she added, soothingly patting Lily's hand, before she hurried into the hospital wing to check on a patient, who was just waking up.

_(End of memory)_

'_And from the following day on, I couldn't open the drawer_,' Poppy remembered, letting out a long sigh. Two days later, Lily had been dead. '_No, I'm not going to ponder if there was anything I could have done. It's too late anyway_,' she told herself firmly as she closed the drawer and went straight to bed. However, not only her killer headache kept her awake, but also the questions how Severus would react to the news that Ciarán was his son and if it had been a mistake to blood adopt the boy.

_tbc..._


	5. Chapter 5

**Whispers on the Wizardnet ****- by Healer Pomfrey**

_Please refer to the content/warnings/disclaimer note above page 1._

* * *

**Chapter 5**

When Harry woke up, it was still dark outside. He sat up and automatically reached for his glasses, when his eyes caught a small movement to his left side. Looking at the large window, he could see a large animal that was playing in the lake that was beautifully illuminated by the moon light. '_I can see_,' he thought in shock, eyeing his glasses, which were still lying on the night table, where he had placed them the previous evening, in confusion. Letting his eyes wander around the room, he realised that he could see everything even sharper than he had been able to see anything with his glasses before. '_Oh right, Madam Pomfrey adopted me. I am Ciarán now_,' he remembered. '_That must have cured my bad eye sight. Maybe I'll be able to read from the blackboard in class now_,' he thought hopefully.

Cuddling his teddy close, he whispered, "I am so happy." Only too late, he noticed that he had switched the screen on and his message was displayed on the Wizardnet. '_Oh well, it doesn't matter_,' he thought, skimming the Wizardnet entries for anything interesting. He blinked in surprise when his eyes fell on his own, new name.

Darth Vader: 'How is Ciarán this morning? Is he well enough to attend the primary school?'

'_Of course, I'd love to go to school_,' Ciarán thought; however, just before he replied aloud, he remembered what Poppy had instructed him and remained quiet. He stared at the next message in surprise.

R2D2: 'Luke Skywalker, where are you? I have been waiting for you to tell me if I need to cover for you while you go to Hogsmeade or not.'

'_Where is Poppy?_' Ciaràn wondered, looking up in relief when his guardian finally bustled through the door. He did not notice the dark rings under her eyes; he only saw that she was smiling at him. "Good morning, Madam Pomfrey," he said happily. "May I go to school please?"

"Just call me Poppy, sweetie," Poppy replied gently. "Good morning to you too. Let me quickly check on you, and then we'll see if you can go to school."

"I think your colleagues are looking for you," Ciarán informed her, pointing at his teddy's belly.

"Oh no; I overslept," Poppy admitted, sighing. "I will reply right away. Please get dressed if you feel well enough to attend school. I'm going to check on my patients, and then we'll have breakfast and leave."

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An hour later, Ciarán was walking down to Hogsmeade by Poppy's hand. At first, it had felt strange to walk by someone's hand; however, by the time they reached the Hogwarts gates, he had already become used to it and could not help enjoying it, just like he enjoyed wearing his new trousers, sweater and warm outdoor robes. '_She is something like a parent now, and she cares about me_,' he thought happily, eyeing the school building with anxiousness.

However, all his fears were blown away instantly when he an older witch appeared in front of the entrance doors, greeting them with a huge smile on her face. "Good morning, dear. You must be Ciarán, Poppy's nephew. I am Mrs. O'Brian, the Headmistress of the Hogsmeade Primary school. We are glad to have you here. Poppy, do you have a minute to come in?"

Ciarán observed in surprise how the two witches hugged each other. Noticing his awkward expression, Poppy explained, "Ciarán, Mrs. O'Brian is the sister of Healer O'Brian, the Head Healer of St. Mungo's, who has been one of my best friends since we attended Hogwarts together as students."

"More than friends," the Headmistress chuckled, before she sobered quickly and said, "The first morning class will be over in ten minutes. I suggest that I show you around the building, before I take you to your class."

Ciarán hesitantly followed the witches' example and put his shoes into the shoe boxes in the entrance hall, thinking, '_I'm lucky that Poppy was so kind and gave me new socks; otherwise, everyone would have laughed at my old socks that had so many holes_.' The Headmistress showed them the school and Ciarán noticed happily that the corridors were decorated with moving pictures, obviously drawn by children – just the kind of paintings, which he liked to draw and which Aunt Petunia had used to tear into pieces and throw into the bin calling him 'freak'. The corridors somehow reminded him of the halls at Hogwarts, through which Poppy had led him earlier. Many witches and wizards in the paintings had been awake and had spoken with Poppy and him.

'_I like it here_,' he thought, when they entered a classroom, where a young, female teacher was pointing a wand towards a feather that was hovering in the air and a group of about a dozen children was trying to catch it. '_This seems fun_,' he thought, and a small smile appeared on his face.

By then the teacher had spotted Poppy and Ciarán and allowed the feather to be caught by the pupils. "Good morning Madam Pomfrey and Ciarán," she said in a friendly voice. "I am Miss O'Reilly. We have been looking forward to having you here, sweetie. Why don't you sit right here?"

"Yes Madam," Ciarán said and, shooting a smile at Poppy, obediently sat on the offered spot in the first row. He liked to sit in the front of the classroom, knowing that he would be able to read what was written on the blackboard. '_Oh right, I can see better now_,' he remembered, feeling very happy at the thought of not having to wear his broken glasses anymore.

"Hello Ciarán, I am Neville," the boy next to him whispered, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Hello Neville," Ciarán whispered back shyly. '_I hope they won't call me a freak here. It would be so nice to have a real friend for once_.'

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Ciarán noticed soon that the other children were not in the least different from him. During the following class, the teacher made them draw pictures of themselves and their friends or family, and all the other children were able to make people or animals in their paintings move just like Ciarán. Seeing that some children could even make people talk, he intensely looked at his painting, and all of a sudden, Poppy, who was holding her hand out to Ciarán, asked, "Now, shall we go to school, sweetie?" and a smiling Ciarán in his new clothes replied, "Yes, I love going to school." During lunch break, the teacher handed him his timetable and explained that they were going to have Muggle classes like Maths, Reading and Writing as well as magical classes like Introduction to the Magical World, Easy Charms and Spells and Flying. The older pupils also had an advanced class, Etiquettes of the British Magical World.

'_I love this school_,' Ciarán thought as he left the classroom together with his classmates after the last afternoon class. To his surprise, his godfather was standing in front of the school waiting for him.

"Hello Ciarán," the Potions Master said with a small smile on his face, and Ciarán carefully slid his small hand into his godfather's larger hand, unaware of the shocked expression that flashed over the man's face for a second. "Did you enjoy your first day at your new school?"

"I loved it," Ciarán replied, unsure if he was allowed to tell his godfather about his excited day. He quickly turned around when he heard someone call his name.

It was the boy, who was sitting at Ciarán's desk, Neville. "Bye Ciarán," the other boy, who seemed to be as shy as Ciarán said friendly.

"Bye Neville, see you tomorrow," Ciarán said, happily waving his hand at the other boy. '_He is really nice. The others are very friendly too, but I like Neville even more. I'm glad that I can sit together with him_.' In fact, he felt a little unsure in front of the others. They always seemed to know exactly what to do. However, somehow Neville was different. He seemed to be a bit more like himself, and they had had much fun together.

"What classes did you have today?" Snape asked, pulling Ciarán back to reality.

"I love this school," he blurted out and told the professor everything about his first magic class, during which they had to make balloons burst. It had been great fun. '_It was so nice to be allowed to do freakish things, and that everyone else could do them as well_,' he thought as he hurried to keep up with his godfather's fast pace.

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Unbeknownst to the boy, Severus was observing him closely. '_This is what he was supposed to look from the beginning_,' Severus thought. He still could not believe what Poppy had told him at lunchtime, when they had eaten together in her office. '_My son_,' he mused, feeling strangely proud of the boy, whom he barely knew. '_He looks much happier today, but with the adoption and the new school and everything, it would be too much for him if I told him about our relationship. He might be shocked to have the greasy bat of the dungeons as a father_,' he thought grimly._ 'Nevertheless, I will look after him and get to know him a bit now that Poppy is sick_.' Part of him still couldn't believe it, and the first thing he was going to do when the boy would be in bed that evening was to brew a paternity potion. On the other hand, he fully trusted Poppy and knew that she would never tell him such a story if she was not one hundred percent sure that it was true.

"Ciarán, would you like to assist in my lab for a while?" Severus asked hesitantly and explained, "Poppy is sick and I need to brew a potion for her, the same, which we gave you when you were ill."

Ciarán cast his godfather a shocked look. "Did I make Poppy sick?" he asked, terrified.

Severus calmly laid his arm around the boy's shoulder, sighing inwardly. "No Ciarán, it is not your fault that she is ill. Maybe she caught it from you, because she is only immunized against magical illnesses and you were suffering from a Muggle illness, which was easier for her to catch. Don't worry, Ciarán, I'm sure tomorrow or the day after she will be right as rain again."

When they reached the castle, Severus led Ciarán to his room and motioned him to wait a few minutes, while he checked on the students in the hospital wing and Poppy.

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Ciarán put his school bag away and sat on the chair in front of his desk, smiling at his teddy. "Today was the best day in my life," he told his best friend, not caring that he posted the information on the Wizardnet.

Before he could see any responses, the professor strode into the room to take him with him to his quarters.

Ciarán followed his godfather into the potions lab, looking around with interest. It was a very bright, large room with a huge window that covered a whole wall. In front of the wall were sinks that looked at least as clean as Aunt Petunia's kitchen had been. The other three walls were covered by shelves, reaching from the floor to the ceiling. Phials of several sizes and all imaginable kinds of ingredients, moving and unmoving ones, were lined up in meticulous order. '_I love this place_,' Ciarán thought and before he could stop himself asked, "Excuse me sir, is brewing similar to cooking?"

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind comments! Sorry for the delay with all of my stories..._


	6. Chapter 6

**Whispers on the Wizardnet ****- by Healer Pomfrey**

_Please refer to the content/warnings/disclaimer note above page 1._

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**Chapter 6**

Severus was just about to place a traditional sneer on his face, when his gaze met the boy's young and innocent face. Instead, he replied, "It is a bit similar; however, the brewing of potions has to be much more accurate than any form of Muggle cooking. It is important to add the exact amount of each ingredient at the correct time, and at each stage of the brewing process, the potion has to be stirred a certain number of times in the prescribed direction." He held a short monologue about magical ingredients and the most common methods of preparing them, realising contentedly that the boy hung on his lips with apparent interest. "Very well then, would you mind preparing these for me?" Severus asked, laying out the ingredients for the potion, which he urgently needed to brew for his best friend and colleague.

"Of course," Ciarán replied, excitedly, and carefully set to work.

'_He is very adept_,' Severus realised soon, for once having to agree with the small voice at the back of his head that told him, '_What did you expect, considering that he is Lily's and your child?_'

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Ciarán enjoyed himself greatly and felt extremely proud and happy, when his godfather commended him for his diligent work after finishing the potion.

"The accurate preparation of the ingredients is as important as the brewing process itself," the Potions Master informed him, before he suggested, "We'll go and give Poppy the potion, and then you may accompany me to the Great Hall for dinner." Seeing that Ciarán shot him an apprehensive look, he slowly exhaled the air, forcing himself to remain quiet. "Ciarán, you don't have to be afraid. You already know a few of my colleagues, and you may either sit with us at the Head table or choose one of the House tables."

"Will the Headmaster attend dinner too?" Ciarán asked in a barely audible voice, somehow not feeling overly well in the old wizard's presence.

Severus quirked an eyebrow as he scooped the batch of potion on his arm. "Well then you can sit at my House table. I shall introduce you to our seventh year prefect, Ms. Tonks."

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Twenty minutes later, Ciarán was sitting between Nymphadora Tonks, who wanted to be just called Tonks, and a first year boy, Marcus Flinch. Ciarán looked around in amazement, completely fascinated by the charmed ceiling, about which his godfather had explained on the way. '_It's snowing inside the hall_,' he realised with excitement, wondering, '_How come that the snowflakes don't come all the way down here?_' He did not have much time to linger on the question though, because his neighbours began an interesting conversation, mostly revolving around Quidditch. Ciarán noticed soon that at their end of the Slytherin table the Quidditch House team members and their hugest favourites were seated. By the time the meal was over and the Slytherin Head accompanied him back to his own room in Poppy's quarters, he knew a lot about Quidditch and was determined to try getting into a House team, when he was going to be a student in a few years' time.

"May I see Poppy?" Ciarán asked his godfather, when the older wizard instructed him to go to bed.

"I am sorry, Ciarán, but Poppy is very ill and needs her rest," Severus replied sympathetically. "Apart from that, we don't want you to get sick again now. Please get ready for bed. I will come back after checking on Poppy."

Ten minutes later, the tall wizard returned to Ciarán's room and tucked the boy in. '_He is so nice_,' Ciarán thought happily. So far, Poppy had been the only one to have ever tucked him in at night.

"Good night, Ciarán. Sleep well. I will wake you up in time for school," Severus promised, before he left the room with his black robes billowing behind him.

Ciarán obediently closed his eyes, but somehow he was much too excited to sleep. He switched on his teddy's belly, and his eyes widened in surprise as he looked at the screen of the Wizardnet.

Several more names than usual were displayed on the screen. '_Oh right, that must all be people, whom I got to know today_,' he thought in amazement, before he realised, "_but if I can see them, they'll be able to see me, and if they saw a new name today, they'd know that it had to be me_.' He decided to keep quiet and content himself following the various conversations that were taking place. '_Some of them have really funny names_,' he thought, chuckling at Colourbird, Snakeseeker and Pureblood Cauldron. '_Colourbird must be Tonks_,' he suddenly realised, remembering her purple hair that suddenly had changed to a neon green colour during the meal, '_and Snakeseeker could be the Seeker of the Slytherin Quidditch team_.'

Suddenly, a strange post caught his eye.

Colourbird: '_Found a lost white dragon baby in her cauldron. She needs someone to adopt it_.' Underneath the text were three links, '_Like_', '_Comment_' and '_Accio the poor dragon baby'_.

Without even thinking about what he was doing, Ciarán pointed his forefinger at the word 'Accio' on the screen to help, backing up in shock, when a new window opened.

'_Welcome to Cauldron World_,' the display told him and asked him to customise his outfit. Wondering what this was about, Ciarán chose black hair and black robes similar to his godfather's attire and brought his finger to the OK button, causing the screen to take him to a small farm that was only round like a cauldron at the edges. It was equipped with many small fields, on the ground of the cauldron as well as hovering in the air, on which he could see various magical plants. A few of them he could recognise from his earlier Potions lesson with his godfather. '_Is this a game_?' he wondered in surprise, eagerly following the tutorial that explained to him how to play. Ciarán spent the next ten minutes planting potions ingredients, before he bought a snowy white owl, which followed his avatar around the farm, wherever he walked. All of a sudden, a tiny window popped up, informing him that he had found a baby hippogriff, which needed to be rescued. When he touched the '_Post to wall_' button, the window disappeared.

Mere instants later, a message popped up at the left hand side of the screen. '_Colourbird commented on your post_.'

Colourbird: '_Thanks for the hippogriff. Who are you by the way? I can't recall having seen you ever before_.'

Somehow sensing that it was too dangerous to reveal his identity, Ciarán decided to send Tonks a private message.

PM Freak to Colourbird: '_I am Ciarán, but no one is supposed to know_.'

Ciarán and Tonks exchanged a few messages, before Tonks suggested to continue playing Cauldron World, promising to help him with every ingredient or item he might need. She told him that there were other games like Quidditch Paradise or Gringotts Cart Racing, and that she and her friends mostly played before curfew, knowing that the teachers used to snoop around the Wizardnet after curfew. Together with Tonks and a few other Slytherin students, Ciarán played Cauldron World as well as Gringotts Cart Racing, to which Tonks sent him an invitation. He chose an emerald green cart and tapped his avatar to make him board the cart in order to race against Tonks and Thomas, the Keeper of the Slytherin Quidditch team. However, it was so difficult to be fast enough but not too fast for the cart to remain in its lane that he was always the last to reach Merlin's vault, where the race ended. Either he was too slow or too fast, which caused his cart to jump away and end up in front of Gringotts on Diagon Alley. Each time when that happened, Ciarán had to use so-called Galleon points, which he had to collect from his friends' postings on the Wizardnet wall. In return, he became the opportunity to post Galleon points to the wall, whenever he reached Merlin's vault within a reasonable time span.

Ciarán was just about to take a look at Quidditch Paradise, when he suddenly felt that someone sat on the edge of his bed.

"Poppy," he said, looking up in surprise. He had been so absorbed into the game that he had not even noticed her come into the room.

"Hello sweetie," Poppy whispered. "How was your day at school?"

"Today was the best day of my life," Ciarán said with excitement and happily told Poppy everything about his first day at the Hogsmeade school, feeling very reassured that she quietly listened to his ramblings. "Poppy, are you all right?" he finally asked, quirking an eyebrow at his guardian as he eyed her pale face in concern. '_She looks like I felt on the day when I came to Hogwarts_,' he thought.

"I'll be fine, Ciarán," Poppy replied, smiling. Severus gave me the potion and told me that you helped him prepare the ingredients. I'm very proud to hear that you did so well, sweetie. Severus is not one to easily commend anyone."

"I can imagine," Ciarán said, feeling extremely happy at the praise. "I sat at the Slytherin table tonight, and everyone was talking about him, when Tonks told them that he was my godfather."

"So did you already make friends?" Poppy asked kindly, causing Ciarán to show her his teddy and explain that he had been playing on the Wizardnet together with the older Slytherin students.

'_Oops, should I have told her that now?_' he wondered, seeing that Poppy studied the screen with interest.

To Ciarán's huge surprise, Poppy began to chuckle, before she let out a series of harsh coughs. "I'm sorry sweetie," she said when she was finally able to catch her breath. "I just thought it was funny, because there are a few games, which I like to play as well, provided that I get a break at all." Seeing that Ciarán looked at her in surprise, she added, "One of them is 'Apothecary Market', which I play together with Severus and a few colleagues from St. Mungo's, and the other is 'Animagi World', which I play together with Professor McGonagall, Madam Hooch as well as a few older students and former students."

"Both of them sound interesting," Ciarán said excitedly. "May I play with you?" Before Poppy could reply, a sudden thought came to his mind. "How come that I don't see you playing though? I can see lots of posts from the students, when they play games, but I've never seen you play anything."

Poppy smirked as she explained, "Just like you can only see the posts from the people, whom you know, you are only able to see the posts from the applications, which you are using. If you begin to play either Apothecary Market or Animagi World, you will see our posts concerning these games." She let out a long sigh, followed by a series of coughs, before she promised, "I'll send you invitations for both games later on. Now it's time for you to sleep though. Please switch off your teddy."

"All right," Ciarán grudgingly agreed and switched off the Wizardnet. "Good night Poppy."

"Good night Ciarán," Poppy replied softly and once again tucked the child in, smiling upon realising that he drifted off to sleep, before she had even left the room.

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'_Ciarán looked much happier than yesterday_,' Poppy thought as she dragged herself back to her bedroom. '_I'm glad that he found friends at school and even here among the students. I'll contact Augusta and ask her if Neville may come and play with Ciarán sometime during the weekend. I just hope Minerva won't find out who he is if I allow him to play Animagi World with us. It's a bit dangerous, especially since his writing is that of a seven-year-old_.' She sighed in relief as she scrambled into bed, gratefully noticing that Misty had charmed her bed to remain warm and comfortable. '_I need to do something to convince Severus that he has to tell Ciarán about their relationship_,' she mused. '_Severus would be a wonderful father, considering how his Slytherin first years adore him. But how can I convince him that Ciarán will be more than happy to have him as a father?_' she wondered as she searched for a cool spot on her pillow.

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During the following months, Ciarán became good friends with Neville. He learned that Neville lived together with his grandmother, who was a very strict, old witch. Apparently, Neville had the impression as if she never appreciated what he did and always said that he was more a Squib than a wizard. Ciarán found her totally unfair, and whenever he saw her, he remembered his former life together with his relatives, who had never been pleased with him. As far as he observed at school, Neville did just as well as everyone else. His only problem was that he was extremely shy and lacked self confidence. Ciarán was very happy that Poppy was so easy to talk to and seemed to completely understand him. When he told her about Neville and his grandmother, Poppy sighed.

"Ciarán, I know Augusta Longbottom very well. She attended Hogwarts together with Professor McGonagall, Madam Hooch and me. I will ask her if Neville may come to play with you on Saturday. Maybe you can watch the Quidditch match together."

"Oh yes please," Ciarán said, and his eyes began to twinkle with excitement.

To Ciarán's great pleasure, Mrs. Longbottom was very relieved to be able to tend to some duties without having Neville under her feet and allowed Neville to stay at Hogwarts over the whole weekend. Ciarán couldn't wait to have his friend over, and after breakfast at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, he followed Poppy around the hospital wing, asking every five minutes, "When do you think Neville is going to arrive?"

Poppy feverishly wondered how she could occupy Ciarán until the beginning of the match and finally said, "Ciarán, could you do me a huge favour? On my desk is a list of potions, which I need from Severus. Could you go and take the list to him please? And ask him if he has any potions brewed for me."

Ciarán happily agreed and dashed away towards the dungeons, where he spent the time until Poppy called him to tell him that Neville had arrived helping his godfather in the potions lab.

The two seven-year-olds sat together with the Slytherin Quidditch team as they watched the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match. It was a warm and sunny day at the beginning of May, and Ciarán, who loved Quidditch, enjoyed himself greatly.

"I'd never willingly play Quidditch," Neville whispered, when the Gryffindor Seeker went into a dive and nearly hit the ground. He was very afraid of flying, and the Flying instructor at school always had to patiently convince him to mount his broom every week.

"It's much fun," Ciarán whispered back, absentmindedly following the escaping Snitch with his eyes. "Sometimes, I'm allowed to join the Slytherin Qudditch team, when they practise. Perhaps we could ask if we can play Quidditch in our Flying class sometime." Turning to Tonks, who was sitting on his right side, he asked, "Why don't the Seekers catch the Snitch and end the game already?"

To his surprise, everyone sitting nearby began to laugh. "Where is it?" Tonks finally asked, chuckling, causing Ciarán to point to the Ravenclaw goal post, where the Snitch was busily flapping its wings.

"Over there," he said in surprise and innocence, cheering when the Gryffindor Seeker raced towards the small bowl and gripped it out of the air seconds later, while the Ravenclaw Seeker was still hovering at the other side of the Quidditch pitch.

"Ciarán, did you want Gryffindor to win?" Tonks asked incredulously, causing the younger boy to look at the Slytherin in shock.

"Oh no, I'm sorry," Ciarán said, terrified, just when Charlie Weasley, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, stepped over to the Slytherin seats, where Ciarán and Neville were sitting in the front row.

"Pomfrey, we'd like to invite you to our victory party," Charlie said, smiling broadly at Ciarán.

"I'd love to come," Ciarán said excitedly, "but only if Neville can come as well, and I have to ask Poppy."

"Of course," Charlie replied, grinning.

'_I hope Poppy will agree_,' Ciarán thought. '_I'd love to get to know students from other Houses than Slytherin_.'

_tbc..._

_Thank you so much for your kind reviews!_


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